Here's How CREEED is Growing Tomorrow...
The prevailing ethos that has driven western civilization for the past 300 years, and that came to dominate the globe in the second half of the 20th century has run its course. We face serious challenges in the economy, the environment, education, and health care, not to mention the decline of civility and the rise of political and religious extremism. Increased population and the global proliferation of industrial capitalism are seriously testing the carrying capacity of the planet. The well being of our children and our grandchildren demand that we create a more organic culture and a more conscious brand of capitalism.
Regenerative Ecology
Throughout most of human history Society was small and Nature was large. In the last few hundred years, society grew larger as we discovered fossil fuels and drew on the inventory of energy that the sun had given the planet over billions of years. That well is running dry, and the evidence is overwhelming that the current financial/industrial system no longer works, . We need to readjust how we imagine our lives and our conception of what brings us happiness.
Despite the many challenges we face today, the time is ripe for us to become more conscious and to re-create society and culture so that they move beyond sustainability to actually regenerate the earth and that our collective evolution accelerates. The only way for this to happen is if we simultaneously recreate the economic, legal, governmental, health, food and related systems that structure our lives and provide for our needs; at the same time that our family and cultural models are revitalized. And all of this must happen as large numbers of us become wiser, more skillful, and more highly developed in many of the ways we make sense of the world and each other. What is called for is no less than a third "Great Awakening," a spiritual and practical renewal that permeates to the very depths of who we are, individually, and as a people.
"Photosynthesis is the foundation of every economy, and human life flourishes in a narrow window that may well be in jeopardy"
Distressing Facts about the Earth
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Since 1970, U.S. energy consumption has risen by 50%.
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In 2007 the United States used 21 million barrels of oil per day, equivalent to the use of Japan, Germany, Russia, China, and India.
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Each year in the United States, we lose 1.2 million acres of farmland.
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After decades of effort, the environmental laws, put on the books in the 70s are not working.
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Three decades after the Toxic Substances Control Act we continue to put massive amounts of pesticides into the environment.
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At least 5 to 6,000,000,000 pounds of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides rodenticide and other pesticides are aired to the area each year and 25% of this is in the United States.
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The ideological shift to hyper individualism has sunk into many areas of society.
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Hydrological cycles have been altered. Warm air holds more water vapor than cold air, meaning that there are more droughts in arid areas, and more deluge and floods in moist areas.
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North American rainfall up 7% and more in downpours.
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Flood damage is now increasing by 5% a year.
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We are experiencing a dramatic increase in extreme weather conditions across the planet.
John McMillan
Dr. McMillin is probably best known for his work to end the Ethiopian famine of the 1980’s. One of the prime inspirations for our starting CREEED has been the impact that John has had on each of us. Both his capacity to maintain a positive attitude in the most trying of circumstances, and his post conventional, interdisciplinary knowledge, that allows him to solve systemic problems in a comprehensive way, are fundamental to our sense of purpose.
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John is an exemplar of a Solutionary, a master mentor and a creative problem solver.
Give a man a fish... and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to catch a fish.... and you feed him 'till the fish are gone. Teach a man to raise a fish...and you feed him and his family for life.
Thomas Berry - Eco Prophet
In his major works, The Dream of the Earth, The Universe Story, and The Great Work, cultural historian, Thomas Berry (d.2009) describes how Western religion and culture have created an estranged, unsustainable relationship between humans and the Earth. This dysfunctional relationship is reflected by our economic model of limitless growth and in the technological “wonderworld” created and sustained by our electronic media and corporate advertising.
To heal this condition, which he described as a "distortion of the Sacred," Berry described a new cosmology and mythic consciousness (Great Story), capable of reuniting humans with the creative energy of the Universe. He sought to re-unify science and religion through an "Earth Spirituality" that affirms the spiritual potential of matter, fundamentally changing how we experience the material and living worlds.
Local Food: A Vehicle to Reconnect Nature & Culture
"My premise is cooking --that defined broadly enough to take in the whole spectrum of techniques people have devised for transforming the raw stuff of nature into nutritious and appealing things for us to eat and drink--Is one of the most interesting and worthwhile things we humans do. This is not something I fully appreciated before I set out to learn how to cook. But after three years spent working under a succession of gifted teachers to master four of the transformations we call cooking --Grilling with fire, Cooking with liquid, Baking bread, and Fermenting all sorts of things--I am especially proud of my bread and some of my brazes.
But I also learned things about the natural world (and our participation in it) that I don't think I could've learned any other way. I learned far more than I ever expected to about the nature of work, the meaning of health, about tradition and ritual, self-reliance and community, the rhythms of every day life, and the supreme satisfaction of producing something I previously only could've imagined consuming, And doing it outside of the cash economy for no other reason but love." Michael Pollan - Cooked
Our various partnerships provide a wide variety of apprenticeships in occupations that reconnect the human experience with the natural ecology on which we depend. Initial opportunities include the growing local food movement (from farm to table), Eco-therapy, sustainable nutrition, hospitality and customer service.
Integrative Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are a key component of the CREEED programs. They provide an opportunity for hands-on-learning that grounds knowledge in embodied know-how. The Integral agricultural model, the ReGenerative Agricultural System, brings together bio-dynamic insights, intensive European row techniques, the insights of ReGenerative Science (that helped end the African famines of the 80’s) and a generation of learning from American approaches to low impact, deep organic farming. The result is an evolving model that produces nutrient rich food and offers an economic distribution system that makes that food affordable to a wider audience.
The system and the holistic programs of CREEED provide a solid foundation for a new generation of emergent leaders with the skill and enthusiasm to generate solutions that go beyond sustainability. Our comprehensive approach provides both educational apprenticeships and opportunities for long term employment. With the opportunity for both a livable wage and ownership participation, initially in the local food movement, our programs create a practical pathway for a new generation of ecologically minded social entrepreneurs.
One root of our approach is the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement that started in the late eighties as a simple way to support local agriculture. It created a more efficient form of consumer direct marketing and delivery of food. In the CSA Food Membership System growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. The member buys a share prior to the seasons planting and shares in the harvest, generally from May through October. Today there are over 4000 CSA’s across the U.S., with more added each year.
Thousands of these right sized farm-to-table farms and gardens provide fresh, healthy food to a growing proportion of Americans. The Center for Regenerative Ecology, Education, & Enterprise Development and our various partnerships are extending this work by evolving the CSA concept into the notion of Agriculturally Integrated Cooperative Communities that incorporate the ReGenerative Agricultural System.
three dimensions to this initiative
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The improved agricultural methods of the ReGenerative Agricultural System
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The development of emerging leaders and the creation of a body of engaged apprentices and colleagues
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The implications for community revival and cultural renaissance
The focus of this document is on the economic and cultural potential of a revitalized local agriculture in the northeast. The long term implications for a new form of community, cultural revival and a more creative approach to residential development and land use planning will be addressed in a companion paper.
The opportunity to create a renewed (agriculturally based) economy in the northeast is, in many ways, already underway. That economy can supply healthy food to local and regional markets (40 million people live within a one day delivery radius of the meeting place of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York), create jobs with livable wages and help ReGenerate the land for long term sustainability. The jobs will provide a wide variety of opportunities for emerging adults to earn a living, find a meaningful place in society and create a future that works for us all.
Of the close to 8.5 million acres of farmland in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York 70% of the tillable land is planted with commodity crops that are dependent on chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. This system is oil dependent, ecologically suspect and lacking in terms of both taste and nutrition. In addition, these biological “dead zones” are the largest cause of soil runoff into streams and rivers, creating hazard for both human and animal populations.
For each acre of monoculture farmland, it takes $43 in direct labor cost to plant, cultivate and harvest crops (usually corn or soy) in the industrial agricultural system. Compare that to over $8000 per acre in direct labor for growing craft based organic crops. At the same time the gross revenue per acre in the current industrial system is $720, including subsidies. Intensive post organic agriculture generates gross revenues (even without greenhouses and 12 months of production) of between $21,000 and $26,000 per acre.
The net value of post organic foods produced with this approach, estimating an average return per acre of $24,000, is $16,000. That is more than $15,000 greater than the return on conventional industrial corn or soy, and does not include government subsidies. With the awareness growing across America that food is the first medicine, the demand for high quality, nutritious food continues to grow. Organic food sales in the United States during the 2000 calendar year were almost $7 billion. In 2009 the sales of organic food reached almost $30 billion, and world wide sales in 2010 were close to $55 billion. Organic food is the fastest growing sector of the American food industry, growing 5 times faster than other market segments, at approximately 15% per year.
More Money for Producers
A direct distribution model can provide the freshest nutrient dense food direct from farm-to-table across the greater northeast. Weekly direct-to-consumer (both commercial kitchen and residential home) delivery of fresh vegetables and fruit throughout the 25 week farming season is augmented through out the rest of the year with fresh herbs, winter vegetables and healthy prepared and frozen food . The market basket is augmented with additional dairy products, meat, and over time organically raised fresh fish.
Advantages for Farmers
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Farming as a Career offers a clear path to success.
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Marketing and operational support allows farmers to focus on what they love– growing
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Individuals can work cooperatively within a system that values the craft inherent in “deep organic” farming.
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Effective new innovations in low impact technologies reduce the drudgery of repetitive tasks and the toll on the body of years bent over.
Advantages for the Farm
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Profits flow from restorative, healthy and sustainable practice
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Effective new innovations in low impact technologies increase efficiency while reducing unhealthy labor practices, keeping farm workers happy and engaged
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Increased soil fertility
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a better natural balance and healthier products
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Agricultural tax advantages and incentives
Advantages for the Consumers
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Consumers receive great tasting naturally grown food and farm products
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Clear health benefits from higher nutritional value and no chemical residue
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High quality products at a
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Long term Food Security
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Support for local growers and the craft of artisanal farming across the north- east
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Knowing where the food comes from and who grew it
Advantages for our Environment
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Farming as a Career offers a clear path to success.
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Marketing and operational support allows farmers to focus on what they love– growing
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Individuals can work cooperatively within a system that values the craft inherent in “deep organic” farming.
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Effective new innovations in low impact technologies reduce the drudgery of repetitive tasks and the toll on the body of years bent over.
A marketing approach using a Relationship Driven Supply Chain that builds strong relationships between consumers and farmers is an important component of the strategy. These relationships are enhanced by an active internet community and the rich information that travels back and forth across the supply chain. The empowered social relationships that develop between eaters and growers creates a positive reinforcing loop that accelerates the process of delivering the right food at the right price to a wider population.
As we convert from the current multi-layer national distribution system to a regional direct system we eliminate the waste of close to 35% of the factory food lost in the process of transportation and distribution. In addition, both our farming methods and our regional distribution system delivers food at a significantly lower carbon cost than conventional agriculture, reducing the impact on global warming and eliminating significant amounts of chemical pesticides and herbicides.
World-wide, for every pound of food grown with conventional methods 6 pounds of soil is lost. The composting and soil building technologies that are part of ReGenerative Agricultural System, such as growing bio-mass crops like daikon, using mineral enhancements and integrated livestock actually create new, nutrient dense soil. The heightened productivity of the land that results from these methods, in conjunction with a direct distribution system can provide high quality locally produced foods at a more economical cost then has been the case up until now. It provides benefits to farmers, consumers and the environment.
The challenges we face today demand that we forge hearts and minds that can relate to others and to the world, particularly in times of stress, from a place of high skill, equanimity and love. We need to call on all the capacities we have accumulated in a lifetime to act in every area of life from a place of presence, grounded in an experience of Oneness and a sense of interconnectedness. We need to bring skillful means to bear in the marketplace of human life, at home, at work and in the world. Each of us needs to become a leader with the depth, skill and passion to teach and inspire others to work together to create a world that works for all of us.